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I finally had a chance to install a dashcam (Blackvue DR750X Plus) to my A5. I thought about hardwiring it and read every relevant thread/post on AW about which fuse to tap, etc, etc, but decided against it -at least for now- since I work from home, and the car is parked in my garage 90% of the time. The second option was the "mirror tap", but I didn't want to mess with that area (I'm known for breaking plastic tabs of trim pieces). That left me with the cigarette lighter option, but I have a low profile charger in there for times that I -or my passenger- want to charge mobile devices without connecting to Apple CarPlay. At the end I ended up using the 12V port in the trunk
I bought a cigarette lighter extension cable and ran it from the trunk all the way to the passenger footwell. I routed it under the back seat, then tucked it inside the door sill trim. I routed the power cable from the camera into the headliner first, then to the top of the A pillar, followed by jumping into the weather strip around the A pillar. The connection points between each piece is pretty tight (unlike my wife's car that took half the time), but with trim removal tools and pieces of my fingertips, I was able to push the cable into tight places. Cigarette lighter connection and the extra power cable are tucked near the area where the cabin air filter is located, and that foam piece in that area conceals everything nicely. There are two spots where the cable is exposed (other than the part that goes into the camera and the little section that goes into the 12V port in the trunk): at the corner of the A pillar, which is really difficult to see unless you stuck your head over the dash to find it, and where the cable exits the weather strip, which is not visible when the door is shut.
I was going to install it behind the rear view mirror, but it was too low and visible from the passenger seat. I mount it as high as possible with the cables and the holder under the blacked out portion of the windshield (you can only see half of the camera from outside). It doesn't obscure my view in any way (the first photo is from my eye level). Obviously, it's more visible from the passenger side, but you'll have to look up to have it block your view.
Anyways... Just adding my install to the mix, in case someone could benefit from it.
Last edited by Ascari_Blue_A5; 03-27-2023 at 03:40 PM.
I have a BlackVue DR750X-2CH Plus in my WishList. But then I have to install it (or get it installed) and I'm pretty **** about my car.
I think biggest reason why not yet is I really just don't drive it much. Plus, I still need to examine the model/feature matrix and decide exactly which model/features I want. Right now, I just know I want good quality video and would prefer one that does front-and-back.
I went back and forth between DR750X (FHD 60 fps) and DR900X (4K) and went with DR750X-1CH for my car and -2CH for my wife's at the end. The file size gets rather large with the 4K cameras making transfer over Wifi difficult, and the cameras tend to overheat based on what I've seen from reviews. While Blackvue hardware is excellent, their app implementation is horrendous! I showed how the connection is made with the camera and the navigation within the app to my wife, and she said "I rather pull the SD card out and connect it to my iPhone, if I need to show any recordings to a police officer in an event"
I finally had a chance to install a dashcam (Blackvue DR750X Plus) to my A5.
There are two spots where the cable is exposed (other than the part that goes into the camera and the little section that goes into the 12V port in the trunk): at the corner of the A pillar, which is really difficult to see unless you stuck your head over the dash to find it, and where the cable exits the weather strip, which is not visible when the door is shut.
@ascari_blue_a5, that is a really clean install. I also keep mine garaged most of the time but added hardwiring to monitor in parking lots whenever I run out somewhere. If you change your mind, don't be concerned with trim removal as there are now lots of posts on how to do it without breaking anything.
I am still considering adding a rear camera but I don't want to attach a mount to the film on my tinted rear window. I'm curious if anyone has done a different mounting style in the rear and how it worked out.
@Ascari_Blue_A5, that is a really clean install. I also keep mine garaged most of the time but added hardwiring to monitor in parking lots whenever I run out somewhere. If you change your mind, don't be concerned with trim removal as there are now lots of posts on how to do it without breaking anything.
I am still considering adding a rear camera but I don't want to attach a mount to the film on my tinted rear window. I'm curious if anyone has done a different mounting style in the rear and how it worked out.
Thanks!
The camera has an internal voltage monitor, so hardwiring it to have parking mode recording is very tempting. Since I didn't want to have continuous recording of my garage, I went ahead and purchased Power Magic Pro, which has an on/off button that would allow me to turn parking mode on when I'm out running errands, socializing, etc. and keeping it off when the car is in the garage. I'll probably end up going that route sooner than later, especially since I can just route the cigarette lighter connection of the Power Magic Pro to the passenger footwell to achieve that function. One would think that Blackvue would include this functionality in their app, since they discontinued Power Magic Pro, but apparently that's too much to ask.
I've also considered adding a rear camera, especially after I installed one on my wife's car. The cable on the newer models is a lot thinner, which makes it easier to route. In my case, since I already have a path to follow to the back of the car (i.e., the same one as the cigarette lighter extension cable from the trunk) and to the camera, it should not be a difficult task. However, I also have tinted windows and need to take that into consideration if/when I decide to add one.
After comparing the footage between the -identical- cameras in our cars, mine looked like I had a gray filter on the windshield. It turned out to be the excessive reflection from the dash due to the angle of the windshield on the A5.
The solution? A stupidly overpriced ($30) CPL filter. As shown below, it fits over the lens and reduces glare and reflections from the dash. You go to live view on your phone and rotate the little lens until you get a clear picture with diminished reflection. I was skeptical at first, but it actually works. The downside is darker night time footage. Most of my driving happens during the day (no more clubbing), so that should be fine overall. I can increase the brightness in the app to componasate little bit. If that doesn't work it's not too difficult to remove and attach it again, although that may shorten the life span of the already flimsy plastic pieces.
Just wanted to post it here in case you experience the same issue.
03-27-2023, 01:22 PM
Another dashcam installation post.
